1983, Northeast China

Chapter 22 Is this how Chen Mancang's son is?

The man wore an old cotton-padded jacket of indeterminate color, with a hemp rope tied around his waist and a roe deer skin hat on his head. In his hand, he carried a short ice chisel, its tip polished to a shine.

He didn't know how long he stood there.

When Li Cheng saw someone, he first breathed a sigh of relief, then became furious, "Who are you? Why did you suddenly appear and scare me?"

The man glanced at him and said, "If you jump around a couple of times and fall, it won't be scary anymore."

"My friend stepped on thin ice."

"You still know about Bo?" Old Wei sneered, pointing his ice pick three feet away from Li Cheng's feet. "White ashes mixed with ash, stealing water underneath. You're hitting this place with pickaxes, are you tired of living?"

"Then what should I do?"

"Lie down."

"what?"

"Your ears are frozen off too?" Old Wei pointed the ice chisel at his knees. "Throw away the pickaxe, lie down, and shuffle backward. Don't kick with your feet."

This time, Li Cheng didn't dare to argue. He slowly laid the iron pickaxe down, lay down on the ice, and moved back little by little.

Chen Shi caught his arm and pulled him back to Hou Bing's side.

Li Cheng plopped down on the snow and remained silent for a long time.

Old Wei tapped the ice surface twice with the tip of an ice chisel.

thump.

thump.

The two sounds are different.

Chen Shi understood something, but couldn't quite put his finger on what was wrong.

Old Wei bypassed the ice he had just seen and headed south towards the pond.

There was a crooked willow tree nearby. A patch of reeds had fallen over the area.

He wasn't walking fast; his right leg landed noticeably a beat slower.

Chen Shi noticed that when his right foot landed, the sole of his boot always veered outward by half an inch.

There are probably old injuries in the area around the back of the knee and the shin. Walking on flat ground is fine, but once on ice, the body instinctively avoids the force.

Old Wei stopped in an inconspicuous spot, first sweeping away the loose snow with his foot, then gently tapping it a few times with an ice chisel.

The hilt struck, then bounced back with a dull thud.

He didn't rush to smash it, but instead pointed to two more spots on the side, and finally stood the ice chisel upright and slammed his wrist down.

Click.

A small white spot appeared on the ice surface.

The ice chips are falling.

The white dot turned into a small opening.

He drove very slowly, first making a hole about the size of a bowl. The water beneath the ice was dark and murky.

"You swung the pickaxe around wildly, the ice shattered, the fish escaped, and people were stunned by the shock."

Chen Shi looked at the small ice eyes.

His father had said the same thing before, but as soon as the ice chisel fell from Old Wei's hand and black water seeped out of his mouth, those words finally came to fruition.

Old Wei opened two more small holes before letting Chen Shi bring over the net.

After Li Cheng recovered, he dared not boast anymore and obediently handed over the net.

Old Wei glanced down and said, "The patching looks like it was chewed by a dog."

Li Cheng blushed. "As long as it works, it's fine."

Old Wei took the net, tugged at the mesh with his fingers, found a few spots with bad leaks, wrapped the hemp thread that Chen Shi had brought around it, and tied a knot.

The knot was tied quickly and tightly.

Li Cheng stared in disbelief. "How did they do that?"

Old Wei ignored him.

He slowly lowered the net into the ice hole, using a skillful wrist movement to gently press the net opening towards the underwater surface.

After a while, the net handle became heavy.

Old Wei flipped his wrist.

A palm-sized crucian carp, still wet with water droplets, was flung onto the ice, its tail slapping against the ice.

Li Cheng's eyes widened. "It really is."

"Do you think all fish are like you, always heading for where there are no paths?"

In short, Li Cheng was rendered speechless.

Chen Shi squatted down, picked up the fish, and put it into the urea bag.

The fish was cold, but it was still alive when you held it in your hand.

Old Wei scooped it up a few more times.

Two crucian carp, one small carp, and a few willow roots.

Li Cheng was itching to try it. "Let me give it a shot," he said.

Old Wei handed him the net.

Li Cheng immediately perked up and, imitating Lao Wei, peered into the ice hole.

I had only been dipping my net in for a short while when the handle touched the edge of the ice, and there was a splash in the water.

The noise made Old Wei frown. "Are you catching fish, or are you telling them to move?"

"Then you come, you come." Li Cheng was a little embarrassed.

"If he can't do it, you're not necessarily going to be either," Old Wei suddenly said, looking at Chen Shi.

Chen Shi took the net.

He tried to move as gently as possible, and as soon as the net entered the water, the opening veered off course. The ice hole was small, so he couldn't see the bottom; if the net was too light, it couldn't reach the bottom, and if it was too heavy, it stirred the water.

He spent a long time searching, but only managed to pull up a handful of water plants.

"Chen Mancang's son, is that all?" Old Wei looked at his actions with disdain. "Fire the net again."

Chen Shi stopped moving.

Li Cheng was also stunned.

"Do you know my father?" Chen Shi had been trying to figure out who this person was. He didn't live in the village, but he seemed to know the village very well. He seemed to have a memory of such a person, but he couldn't match the face.

Old Wei pulled the ice chisel out of the snow. "Everyone in Kaoshantun knows Chen Mancang. What are you looking at me for? Let's set the net again!"

This doesn't sound like something a typical acquaintance would say.

Old Wei turned to gather his things. In the reeds beside him lay an old willow basket, exactly the same as Chen Shiyong's, clearly made by the same person.

"Uncle Wei," Chen Shi remembered. Wei Changlin was Chen Mancang's old hiking companion.

Old Wei paused, his back turned.

"Don't call me 'uncle.' Go offline."

Chen Shi put the net into the water again, but his fingers were so frozen that he couldn't control them, and the net got stuck in the ice.

Old Wei tapped the net frame with his hoe, "Go in at an angle, don't try to fight him."

As the net was pulled up, water first spilled onto the ground, and then two crucian carp were found.

Li Cheng quickly went to get the urea bag to catch it.

The fish tail lashed wildly against the bag, making a clattering sound as the urea bag rattled.

In his haste, Li Cheng accidentally dropped a willow root from his pocket, which landed on the ice and slid half a foot.

Old Wei kicked the fish back to the side of the bag. "Don't press the fish's belly when you're catching it, or the gallbladder will burst and the whole pot of soup will taste bitter."

Li Cheng immediately let go and started pinching the fish's gills, explaining as he did so, "I've never caught a live one before."

"He's never caught anything, but he's always talking," Old Wei said.

The second net yielded more fish, with seven or eight small fish jumping around, and a carp weighing over half a pound.

Li Cheng grinned so hard his teeth were showing, "It's true, it's true! This time my mom won't say I'm useless at everything."

Chen Shi picked out two willow roots from the bag and handed them over, saying, "Uncle Wei, take two."

Old Wei didn't take the big one, but picked up a small one, threaded its gills with a straw rope, and said, "Take the rest back; your family might need them right now."

Chen Shi broke the pancake in half and handed him one half, which he accepted this time.

He chewed very slowly, and his teeth weren't very sharp. Half an old rope and some tools, all of which he had made himself, were sticking out of the sack.

"Don't use a pickaxe to smash things anymore." Old Wei swallowed his pancake. "The sound of a pickaxe carries far, it will scatter the fish and attract people. There are fish by the pond, who in the village doesn't want them? You have a lot going on at home now, don't let anyone follow you."

Chen Shi nodded, then looked at his right leg. "You've been neglecting your old knee injury for too long. Living in the mountains in winter, the cold is intense, and it must hurt even more at night. If you don't take care of it, you can manage going uphill, but going downhill will be difficult."

Li Cheng was stunned.

Old Wei slowly turned around, his eyes sharper than his icy blade. "Didn't your father teach you to mind your own business?"

Chen Shi remained silent.

Old Wei stared at him for a while, then suddenly laughed, "Your father risked his life in the mountains, and you still dare to go up?"

Li Cheng asked in a low voice, "What does that mean?"

No one cares about him.

Old Wei picked up his willow basket and walked towards the woods.

He took two steps, then stopped without looking back. "If you really want to take some fish back, walk a little further ahead, but don't go past that crooked willow. Catch a few and leave, don't be greedy. Chen Mancang never used to cast his net here, he thought the fish were too small."

After saying that, he left without looking back.

Only when Li Cheng and the others could no longer see him did they dare to ask, "Who is this old man? Why is he so rude?"

"Old Wei."

"I mean, how does he know your dad? And if he does, why is he talking to you like that?"

Chen Shi looked in the direction Lao Wei had walked.

He wanted to know too.

Chen Mancang's death was a mystery in his previous life. Everyone said he died in the mountains, but he didn't dare ask how or where he died, and no one was willing to elaborate.

Old Wei's glance just now didn't seem like he'd only heard gossip.

The two tried the location that Lao Wei had indicated several more times.

This time, Chen Shi didn't try to be reckless. He first assessed the thickness of the net before slowly lowering it.

His movements were still raw, but they weren't just a chaotic mess anymore; they gradually became more methodical.

Half an hour later, more than ten fish appeared in the urea bag.

The bag also felt heavier when I picked it up.

Looking at the bag, Li Cheng felt smug again. "I told you it could hold a lot of fish."

Chen Shi lifted the bag, "Which one did you catch?"

"Without me keeping watch, how would you know how to steal it?"

"Did the wind make you understand?"

Li Cheng stiffened his neck. "I understand now, this wind is a bit cold."

On the way back, the sun rose a little higher, but it didn't feel very warm.

Chen Shi carried the fish, the urea bag a bit tight in his hand. He was thinking about how to take some back to Li Cheng, two more to Zhao Defa, and the rest he would bury in the snow to freeze, which would last for a few days.

"Take some back with you. I promised you a bowl."

Li Cheng quickened his pace immediately, "Then I'll go back and chop wood!"

When he returned to the village, Chen Shi carried a bag in one hand and a pickaxe in the other.

As they approached the village entrance, Li Cheng suddenly stopped. "Chen Shi, look."

A sled was parked in front of Tian Guizhi's door.

The horses pulling the sled puffed out white steam, and the sides of the sled were covered in mud. An old canvas was draped over the sled, with the red characters of the forest farm printed on it.

Before I could get a good look, I heard dogs barking coming from the Chen family's house in the distance.

Yellow Ear chirped urgently, one chirp after another.

Today is the sixth day of the lunar new year!

Chen Shi shoved the bag into Li Cheng's arms, not even bothering to take the pickaxe, and ran home.